FORM presents Wingspan – taking flight, taking shelter by nationally renowned master printmaker Kati Thamo. On display 13 May – 10 July 2022 at The Goods Shed in Claremont, this long-awaited exhibition marks the first major solo show by the Western Australian artist since 2018.
Born in 1956 to parents who fled to Western Australia from Hungary during the second world war, Thamo grew up with the echoes of the ‘old world’ resonating through her homelife, even in suburban Perth. She currently works from her studio in Albany, where she has lived most of her life. With a career spanning four decades, Thamo has become recognised Australia-wide for her stunning prints and hand-embroidered textiles, incorporating drawing, installation and sculpture into her practice.
Thamo’s work explores how our sense of self is created from the cultural and familial histories we inherit, and how our memories are formed into narratives. Depicting our relationships with one another and nature, her work draws on personal and broader stories to create visual fables. Integral to this are the folk traditions of her migrant family’s homeland, the Transylvania region of Romania (formerly Hungary).
The culmination of five years of research, Wingspan takes audiences on a journey from the culturally dense and brooding atmosphere of Transylvania, to the open spaces and natural beauty of Albany. Alongside prints and textiles, exquisite drawings and experimental wall-based works are showcased. Drawing upon Western Australia’s migratory bird life, the exhibition explores the triumph and heartache of migration in both a personal and cultural context.
“My family migrated many years ago during the Second World War, with my parents taking flight and fleeing their homes in central Europe. Carrying only suitcases and the cultural imprinting of their earlier lives they travelled from one side of the world to the other. Unlike the birds I’ve studied closely in Albany, which take to the wing seasonally, it was almost two decades before my parents were able to reconnect with their families in the other hemisphere. Over that time they adjusted to this far flung land in which they made their home and raised their children,” explained Thamo.
The significance of the universally human themes explored in Wingspan are timely, in particular as the world comes to grips with the consequences of climate change, the pandemic, economic and political instability and the unfolding war in Ukraine. The echoes of an age many thought long left in the past have always remained, becoming
“Though these works are framed by my family’s history I hope it carries a sense of broader relevance. The wingspan of migratory birds reaches across the earth from far north to far south. If migration can be considered a living thread which connects people, places and habitats across the world, then hopefully we will be able to weave together places to shelter us all,” said Thamo.
Wingspan is the first in a new series of exhibitions called Southern Exposure, scheduled from May to October 2022 at FORM’s The Goods Shed
“FORM remains committed to celebrating the immense talent of Western Australia’s artists and creative community. As part of our ongoing support of regionally-based Western Australian artists FORM’s Southern Exposure exhibition series will shed a light on the richness of contemporary creative practice in the Great Southern, Peel, South West and Wheatbelt regions,” said FORM’s CEO Tabitha McMullan.